History of Asian Jewelry
One of the earliest cultures to begin making jewelry in Asia was the Chinese around 5,000 years ago. Chinese jewelry designs were very religious-oriented and contained Buddhist symbols, a tradition which continues to this day.
The Chinese used silver in their jewelry more often than gold and decorated it with their favorite color, blue. Blue kingfisher feathers were tied onto early Chinese jewelry and later, blue gems and glass were incorporated into designs. However, jade was preferred over any other stone and was fashioned using diamonds. The Chinese valued jade because of the human-like qualities they assigned to it, such as its hardness, durability, and beauty. The first jade pieces were very simple, but as time progressed, more complex designs evolved. Jade rings from between the 4th and 7th centuries BC show evidence of having been worked with a compound milling machine, hundreds of years before the first mention of such equipment in the west.